We've been visiting Sabbaday Falls, a scenic waterfall site on the Kancamagus Highway in the White Mountain National Forest of New Hampshire for decades. Ever since we discovered the wide-sweeping magnificence and beauty of this wonderful natural geology of mountains, forests, lakes and rivers. When our children were in their teens (our oldest son will be 60 next month) we bought a White Mountain guide and began, year after year, to explore the area, both in the Franconia and Crawford Notches.

Soon we began climbing the mountains, our family of five eager to take in the views at the summits, considering each of our forays an adventure to treasure. Each of those ascents represented a day's activity, up the mountain, then descending. Eisenhower, Little Haystack, Clinton, Mooselauki, Lafayette, Lincoln, Cannon, Willey. One day, studying the guide, we came across an interesting site called Sabbaday Falls, where it was explained, early area settlers would gather after church services to gather and view the spectacular run-off of mountain streams into the falls.

At that time many years ago, the hike over to the falls and to the trail beyond took place in a completely natural setting, without added aids such as the infrastructure of wooden stairs, railings and balconies that now exist there, encircling the falls area. They were built decades after we had already become familiar with the area. More recently, the site itself was shut down for remedial work and it remained that way for several years.

And then it reopened once again for tourists and nature lovers in general to feel free once again to roam about the area, through the forest trail and up to the granite cliff where the falls spill over into the Swift River which continues to run its course through a granite, boulder-strewn spillway into the Rocky Gorge miles away.

These days so many years later, our children have long been on their own, busy with their lives, and so have we. These days it is our two little dogs, Jackie and Jillie who accompany and companion us on these trips, as they did a week ago when we visited Sabbaday Falls to watch with the same old awe, the forceful volumes of water that tumble over the falls from its height to the river below.